Orthodoxy & Heterodoxy

This book by Orthodox pastor Andrew S. Damick is, essentially, a more-or-less [as far as I can tell with my limited knowledge] comprehensive survey of Every Christian Denomination And Why They're Not As Correct As Mine [i.e. Orthodoxy]. Instead of cherry-pickingly flattening every different interpretation of Christianity to form a new questionably-coherent picture of orthodox faith as some have, Damick is serious in his assertion that the Orthodox Church is the sole inheritor of an unbroken apostolic succession all the way back to Pentecost and therefore has the best claim today of being the most Christian Christianity out there. Obviously, such a project would lend itself quite naturally to spiritual pride & factionalism, but in my opinion Damick approaches the task with a humility & a generosity of understanding that, while far from ecumenical in scope, lays foundations for conversation such that ecumenical projects in the future might learn about & respect other traditions better.*

   The book's contents, thus, are as follows:

• introduction: brief reflections on the nature/purpose of religious truth.
• Orthodoxy: a portrait of the Orthodox Christian faith - we get the essential non-negotiable doctrines laid out in a mere two pages. This is followed by a listing of all the major heresies, the majority of which were stamped out [or at least argued into ridiculousness] in the earliest centuries of Church history.
• Roman Catholicism: an explanation of the Schism & the differences that both led up to it & developed after it, then going on to discuss the most major of these - those relating to the Pope, the sacraments, the nature of salvation, and the filioque.
• Protestantism: starting with a dissection of the five solas which emerged in the Reformation & the new traditions that sprang up around them - Lutheranism, the Reformed churches, Anglicanism [and its baby Methodism] - but oh no, this revolution won't stop! - as the Magisterial Reformation gave way to the Radical, ecclesiology itself was deconstructed & reimagined, as new denominations continued to proliferate - Anabaptists & Baptists, Puritans [including my homefolk Quakers, who don't get nearly enough discussion in here] etc - flippin' 'eck it still won't stop, we get past The Great Awakening & Protestantism is continuing to question itself into fragments along lines of individualistic experiential faith, with this new Evangelical thrust developing theologies like restorationism, adventism, dispensationalism, etc - all the way up into the present & the foreseeable future.
• Pentecostalism: many would lump this in with the rest of Protestantism [even though it's already had three chapters to itself, greedy] but Damick makes a pretty solid case that it's different enough to constitute a whole new fourth paradigm of Christian expression - from its origins in the Holiness movement to its global reach as a charismatic denomination.
• Non-mainstream Christians: i.e. the kind of denominations that most other Christians agree don't count as actual Christians because they're so weird - for a few examples the Unitarian Universalists, Christian Science, Mormons, Jehovah's Witnesses, Christadelphians, etc.
• Non-Christian religions: this is easily the weakest chapter of the book - Damick is in his element discussing theological heterodoxies within the umbrella of Christ but his perfunctory surveying here leaves a lot to be desired - Judaism, Buddhism, Hinduism & Scientology all only get three pages each [atheism is relegated to an appendix] - but then I suppose this book never claimed to be a full guide to world faiths, rather an apologetic project for Orthodoxy.
• Concluding remarks: a very reasonable & Christlike consideration of how an Orthodox Christian should relate to anyone from any other faith.

   I do consider myself an orthodox Christian, and following reading this book I am highly amenable to Orthodox Christianity - I checked Google Maps to find my nearest such church & it's half an hour down the motorway, which rules out a weekly shuttle as I don't drive, so however much theological unlearning I've been able to do with Father Damick's help I will still be worshipping as a Protestant** for the foreseeable future. This book is one I would recommend as a resource to help those confused about Christianity's internal diversity navigate the complex tangles of difference; just don't use it as such if you don't want whoever you're getting to read it to find Orthodoxy the most compelling expression of the faith.

* Although within the text itself Damick only uses the phrase thrice, the general thrust of potential spermatikos logos is littered throughout - he discusses both all heterodox Christianities as well as other religions not as if they were false, but as if they were incomplete. Very helpful little clarificatory nudge there.

** I'm a member of an Anglican parachurch community as well as a regular attender at both an FIEC church & Quaker meetings. Put me in a box.